We have one here on the left coast - it's called CEQA (pronounced "see-kwa"), and the federal government has one, too, called NEPA (pronounced with a long "E"). They're statutes that are designed to make decision makers consider the consequences of development on the environment.

Here in Kali-fornya (Arnold's new pronunciation), CEQA is often used as a sword against development, frequently by environmentalists, and sometimes by local residents who ban together to stop or slow down a project. Those efforts have been accused of turning into NIMBY, or Not In My Backyard - a criticism leveled by those who usually want the project to go forward and are trying to get the environmentalists/residents to back off.